Automated Missile Loading System with Sensor Alignment
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Solution Overview
Problem
Current methods for loading missiles into launchers are time-consuming, personnel-intensive, and require controlled environments, limiting the efficiency and flexibility of missile deployment, especially for organizations with limited personnel.
Innovation Solution
An automated missile loading system that includes an elevator, alignment sensors, alignment systems, insertion apparatuses, and a loading controller to lift, align, and insert missiles into launchers without human intervention, ensuring safety and consistency across various environments.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Reliability
If manual loading procedures are used, then safety can be maintained through controlled environments, but the process becomes time-consuming and personnel-intensive
Solution Approach 1:
The patent replaces manual mechanical loading operations with an automated system that uses sensors, controllers, and mechanical positioning devices. The alignment sensor detects missile position, the positioning device adjusts the missile horizontally and vertically, and the insertion device automatically loads the missile into the launcher, eliminating manual intervention while maintaining safety through automated control.
Solution Approach 2:
The loading system performs self-alignment and self-positioning through sensors and automated positioning mechanisms. The alignment sensor continuously monitors missile position relative to the launcher, and the positioning device automatically adjusts the missile without human intervention, enabling the system to service itself during the loading process.
2Ease of operation
If manual alignment and loading is performed, then personnel can control the process, but the system becomes highly complex and requires centralized locations
Solution Approach 1:
The patent replaces complex manual coordination between multiple personnel with an automated control system. The controller receives input from the alignment sensor and automatically actuates the positioning device and insertion device, simplifying the operational complexity from multi-personnel coordination to single-system automation.
Solution Approach 2:
The alignment sensor provides real-time feedback on the missile's position relative to the launcher, and the controller uses this feedback to adjust the positioning device accordingly. This closed-loop feedback system maintains precise alignment automatically, reducing the complexity of manual control requirements.
3Reliability
If centralized loading locations are used, then safety and control are maintained, but flexibility and deployment efficiency are reduced
Solution Approach 1:
The automated loading system is designed to be universally applicable across different locations and launcher types. The alignment sensor and positioning device can operate in various environmental conditions and at different locations, enabling the same system to provide safe and flexible loading operations whether at centralized stations or distributed field locations.
Data Source
AI summary
Apparatus and associated methods relate to automatically loading a plurality of hazardous entities into a hazardous-entity container. Such automatic loading is performed by: i) lifting a selected hazardous entity of a plurality of hazardous entities from a stowed position to an elevation of a corresponding hazardous-entity portal of the hazardous-entity container; ii) sensing relative alignment the selected hazardous entity with respect to the corresponding hazardous-entity portal iii) aligning the selected hazardous entity with the corresponding hazardous-entity portal based on the relative alignment sensed by the alignment sensor; iv) evaluating whether an insertion condition is met based at least in part on the relative alignment sensed by the alignment sensor; and v) inserting the selected hazardous entity into its corresponding hazardous-entity portal if the insertion condition is met.